Page 120 - Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales , A

"That smoke comes from the kitchen!" cried one of them, turning up his nose as high as he could, and
snuffing eagerly. "And, as sure as I'm a half-starved vagabond, I smell roast meat in it."

"Pig, roast pig!" said another. "Ah, the dainty little porker! My mouth waters for him."

"Let us make haste," cried the others, "or we shall be too late for the good cheer!"

But scarcely had they made half a dozen steps from the edge of the cliff, when a bird came fluttering to meet
them. It was the same pretty little bird, with the purple wings and body, the yellow legs, the golden collar
round its neck, and the crown-like tuft upon its head, whose behavior had so much surprised Ulysses. It
hovered about Eurylochus, and almost brushed his face with its wings.

"Peep, peep, pe--weep!" chirped the bird.

So plaintively intelligent was the sound, that it seemed as if the little creature were going to break its heart
with some mighty secret that it had to tell, and only this one poor note to tell it with.

"My pretty bird," said Eurylochus,--for he was a wary person, and let no token of harm escape his
notice,--"my pretty bird, who sent you hither? And what is the message which you bring?"

"Peep, peep, pe--weep!" replied the bird, very sorrowfully.

Then it flew towards the edge of the cliff, and looked round at them, as if exceedingly anxious that they
should return whence they came. Eurylochus and a few of the others were inclined to turn back. They could
not help suspecting that the purple bird must be aware of something mischievous that would befall them at the
palace, and the knowledge of which affected its airy spirit with a human sympathy and sorrow. But the rest of
the voyagers, snuffing up the smoke from the palace kitchen, ridiculed the idea of returning to the vessel. One
of them (more brutal than his fellows, and the most notorious gormandizer in the whole crew) said such a
cruel and wicked thing, that I wonder the mere thought did not turn him into a wild beast in shape, as he
already was in his nature.

"This troublesome and impertinent little fowl," said he, "would make a delicate titbit to begin dinner with. Just
one plump morsel, melting away between the teeth. If he comes within my reach, I'll catch him, and give him
to the palace cook to be roasted on a skewer."

The words were hardly out of his mouth, before the purple bird flew away, crying "Peep, peep, pe--weep,"
more dolorously than ever.

"That bird," remarked Eurylochus, "knows more than we do about what awaits us at the palace."

"Come on, then," cried his comrades, "and we'll soon know as much as he does."

The party, accordingly, went onward through the green and pleasant wood. Every little while they caught new
glimpses of the marble palace, which looked more and more beautiful the nearer they approached it. They
soon entered a broad pathway, which seemed to be very neatly kept, and which went winding along with
streaks of sunshine falling across it, and specks of light quivering among the deepest shadows that fell from
the lofty trees. It was bordered, too, with a great many sweet-smelling flowers, such as the mariners had never
seen before. So rich and beautiful they were, that, if the shrubs grew wild here, and were native in the soil,
then this island was surely the flower-garden of the whole earth; or, if transplanted from some other clime, it
must have been from the Happy Islands that lay towards the golden sunset.

"There has been a great deal of pains foolishly wasted on these flowers," observed one of the company; and I